Are Asians Perennial Adolescents? 4

It was not until 1997 that the Supreme Court of Japan decided that the Japanese censorship of the horrific atrocities that Japan committed during World War II was unconstitutional. It was Professor Saburo Ienaga's bravery and long-lasting belief that the Japanese people be told the truth that made this possible. Afterward, Japanese textbooks began to tell the truth about what the Japanese Fascists did during World War II.

I have never read a Japanese textbook. I don't know how much of the truth is actually told. I can understand that Japan does not want to deal with the great shame of what their recent ancestors did. But it must deal with it. It must conclusively tell the world that its Fascist, cruel vision of the world was dead-on wrong, that their vision of Asia was wrong.

Despite everything, so many everyday Japanese persons are good and even humble. Wasn't it Einstein who said that Japanese are a noble and good people?

Yes everyday persons are good. But when good means not being able to criticize your own country when it does evil, when good means living your own little life and not caring about the world at large, when good means that you never really grow up... it means that you can really be manipulated by your government or by any group of people with an agenda.

Now, I realize that I may have been implying that the Japanese soul may still be Fascist.

No, not at all. Japan is still a vibrant democracy. Its social programs for its citizens are admirable to say the least. I don't think that a Fascist Japan would rearise if Japan were militarized. My real question is, "How much did the US actually do in Japan after the World War II to weed out the industrial and other elements in Japan that supported Fascist Japan?"

It seems apparent to me that the US did not do much. They needed Japan as an ally.

Did the US conclude that what Japan needed was continuity?